Héctor Sánchez

• PhD in Computer Science
• Professor (Assistant) at University of Extremadura

Featured Application The framework presented in this work, that includes and integrates a wireless sensor network, an IoT platform, and a real interactive TV application, can be deployed within a residential community to provide real-time information, in order to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants. Abstract Internet and, in particular,...

The development of cross-curricular competences is one of the challenges European higher education is facing as consequence of the establishment of the European Higher Education Area (AHEA). One of these competences is the “time management,” an instrumental ability related to manage personal and working time. Time management seems to be a significa...

The study presents a proposal for Learning English as a Foreign Language at the "Universidad Tecnológica Equinoccial" (UTE), making use of the Information Technology and based on a previous pedagogical and technological analysis. Internal diagnostics assessed the use of virtual platforms used at UTE and deepened with a diagnostic field research, in...

One of the main problems of working with metal oxide semiconductor gas sensors in wireless sensor networks is power consumption. Duty-cycling, i.e., switching off the power of the gas sensor and minimizing the node's active time is a well-known power saving technique. But the initial action period of the gas sensor after it is switched back on impo...

The study presents a proposal for Learning English as a Foreign Language at the “Universidad Tecnologica Equinoccial” (UTE), making use of the Information Technology and based on a previous pedagogical and technological analysis. Internal diagnostics assessed the use of virtual platforms used at UTE and deepened with a diagnostic field research, in...

The increasing popularity of hypermedia games is reaching far beyond the boundaries of entertainment and edging its way into many educational domains. The growth in game technologies has created new teaching environments through proposals combining learning with fun and motivating expectations which make the use of digital games a relevant trend in...

This research corresponds to a first phase of study on the search of the main causes that generate vehicular traffic in the Metropolitan District of Quito and approaching potential application I.3 through the use of intelligent systems based on social networks and sensorial data using Big Data. So the current situation of the city is analyzed as we...

The 21st century is the generation of Digital Game-Based Learning, a generation growing up with technologies and contributing to the prevalence of digital games [Chuang et al. 2010]. Thus, the use of mobile consoles (Nintendo DS or SONY PSP) for entertainment at all ages has increased dramatically, as has the availability of games that meet specifi...

One of the key changes of European Higher Education Area is the implementation of a competence-based educational system. Students are now more than ever the axis around which the university system orbits. The competences that students should acquire during their studies include transversal competences, which are those competences related to leaders...

Based on the assumption that educational software addressing Primary school learners must comprise a set of features to encourage children’s creativity and development, the appropriate design of second language hypermedia adaptive games for Primary School children can pose a wide range of challenges both for the language teacher and computer specia...

Departing from the changing educational context we are moving in, Problem-Based Learning (PBL), combined with other teaching approaches, such as collaborative learning and e-learning, is an educational paradigm that promotes the development of valuable competences and enhances students‟ autonomy, reflection and team skills. In this paper we describ...

En este trabajo presentamos una herramienta utili-zada para evaluar varias prácticas de programación dentro de una asignatura de informática básica del primer curso de dos ingenierías. Nuestro objetivo es utilizar la misma herramienta en todas las prácticas y que ésta sea conocida por los estudiantes para que puedan ser conscientes de su aprendizaj...

Color measurements have traditionally been linked to expensive and difficult to handle equipment. The set of mathematical transformations that are needed to transfer a color that we observe in any object that doesn't emit its own light (which is usually called a color-object) so that it can be displayed on a computer screen or printed on paper is n...

One of the key elements at the European Higher Education Area is the acknowledgement of the need to monitor and measure student activity throughout the learning process. To do this, we conducted a study at University of Extremadura in Mérida and developed an application for a Tablet PC in which students record the amount of time devoted to study di...

The Internet of Things is one of the ideas that has become increasingly relevant in recent years. It involves connecting things to the Internet in order to retrieve information from them at any time and from anywhere. In the Internet of Things, sensor networks that exchange information wirelessly via Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee or RF are common. In th...

Los Sistemas Hipermedia Adaptativos (SHA) se presentan como una clara tecnología para el desarrollo de software educativo ya que posibilitan una enseñanza personalizada, adecuada al nivel de conocimiento, características y necesidades del alumno y presentan el material instruccional a través de audio, video, animaciones y texto (multimedia), lo que...

Resumen Se realizó una investigación con estudiantes del Grado en Ingeniería en Diseño Industrial y Desarrollo de Productos de la Universidad de Extremadura en España durante dos años consecutivos para evaluar la adquisición de competencias transversales. El estudio se enmarca en el contexto del nuevo sistema de enseñanza basado en competencias que...

E-portfolios have experienced growth and expansion due to importance of web technologies and the benefits that they have brought to teaching practices. In education, e-portfolios are mainly used to improve students' learning processes and to support teachers' assessment. In this sense and although there is a large number of tools that encourage the...

In the European higher education area, the student is placed at the centre of the teaching/learning process, developing an active role, initiative and a critical thinking. On the other hand, ICT can offer new possibilities to develop necessary competences to reach student's objectives. In this sense, once competences are identified, we can see the...

La necesidad de sistemas de educación móvil es una realidad derivada de la abundante presencia de dispositivos de consumo portátiles por parte de nuestro alumnado y de su utilización como fuente de información a veces incluso primaria en el día a día de los mismos. Nuestra aportación a esta ventana abierta es el estudio de la usabilidad en aplicaci...

The development of transversal competences is currently considered a key point within the European Area of Higher Education adaptation process. However, course and curricula design that accounts for such competences (e.g., team work, digital competence and ICT, critical thinking, leadership, and the like) remains a challenge and a field open to exp...

How to monitor learning in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) is one of teacher's concerns with the new trends at university education. We propose to use an electronic portfolio to record the student learning process in a determined task. Students are organized in groups and they are responsible to build their own portfolio and use it adequa...

The ability to connect mobile devices to any application or web utility is increasingly important. If in the education sector, virtual learning environments such as Moodle are surprisingly widespread. In light of this, this work aims to explore a new possibility to make the afore mentioned integration possible, enabling such applications to become...

Training programs and technologies have evolved in relation to students' demands to learn languages through Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). In the context of online education, digital platforms like Moodle play a leading role as these management systems include applications and tools which allow us to create and evaluate language...

Educational experiences using mobile devices are increasingly becoming popular and widespread. In this context, audiovisual elements are a common resource used in these initiatives but rarely as a core to direct the learning process. This paper studies the possibilities regarding the cohesion of video and learning elements so the resulting experien...

The ability to connect mobile devices to any application or web utility is increasingly important. If in the education sector, virtual learning environments such as Moodle are surprisingly widespread. In light of this, this work aims to explore a new possibility to make the afore mentioned integration possible, enabling such applications to become...

Technology is changing the way today's children learn. Based on our experience in the development of educational software for children, it is our belief that computer interaction should consider the factors that affect children's cognitive abilities and take an active part in the realm of the methodological process of hypermedia design. Departing f...

Over the last years, there has been a growth in the number of non-Spanish immigrant speakers in Spain. Most of them aim to be employed, so the first step towards their professional integration should be based on learning the appropriate work-related language and cultural and the technological skills required. However, a great amount of potential wo...

The progress of online education has led us to a point where one of the few remaining steps to accomplish is to include alternatives for physical activities, simulations, role plays and educational tasks which can be done from management learning platforms. Though nowadays there are an increasing amount of virtual environments, mostly in games and...

In addition to performing the function for which they were created, handheld devices are also provider of all kind of material through its integrated internet connectivity, enabling users to access and play multimedia information (pictures, videos, music, podcast, etc.), read news on screen, and complete educational activities. Regarding its role o...

Protocol technologies present a wide range of challenges for educators and learners, from course design to teaching practices to assessment. Having moved beyond traditional teaching approaches, hypermedia, enhancing a more goal directed learning format, grants people the chance to learn greater amounts of information more quickly. In this context,...

Since their availability, audiovisual, multimedia, broadcast and technological devices have been used to promote language learning -to capture language samples, to provide access to authentic speech and material, to enhance worldwide communication, and the like. Likewise, as technologies continue to evolve, the tendency to shrink in size and become...

p>Foreign language learning at the pre-school level is a pressing reality in Europe's crosscultural curricula. Along with competency demands, developed by European Union commissions and the various Boards of Education of individual member-states, revolutionary multimedia tools are being implemented in early age bands such as for 3-5 year olds. Howe...

Children at L2 primary levels acquire knowledge and language skills associated with different abilities through educational games. The game introduces learning activities by using playful elements as a source of motivation. The success of the game depends on an optimum relationship between challenge, fantasy, curiosity and control. This is also app...

Children at L2 primary levels acquire knowledge and language skills associated with different abilities through educational games. The game introduces learning activities by using playful elements as a source of motivation. The success of the game depends on an optimum relationship between challenge, fantasy, curiosity and control. This is also app...

El laser escáner terrestre es de gran interés para ingenieros, arquitectos y arqueólogos. Un gran número de láser escáner comerciales están ya disponibles en el mercado. La documentación del patrimonio cultural utilizando láser escáner está aún en una primera fase. Este artículo describe dos proyectos acerca de este tipo de captura métrica: el Teat...

In this paper we present an experimental study of ceramic pottery reconstruction from sherds, using close-range laser scanning. The main objective of this study was the geometric analysis and the 3D reconstruction of the pot's morphology aiming to contribute to the understanding of the constructive ceramic process. The fragments belong to a small X...

The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is spreading inside the classrooms at all educational levels. As this integration has extended to young learners (3 to 5 years), the authorities have recommended their use so that children can acquire knowledge and dexterities they will use all their lives. Keeping in mind that it is at t...

In this paper we present three experiences about combining 3D digitalization techniques for cultural heritage documentation. Retable of Bouro (Portugal) is a big and complex wood structure from the XVII th century part of the Monastery of Santa Maria do Bouro. An urgent conservation and restoration program was promoted in order to prevent further d...

Second language learning through hypermedia at an early age may pose a wide range of challenges for both the computer specialist and the language teacher. Thus, considering that technological experiences with children are still rather recent, an analysis of factors that may influence the learning process (educational context, learning styles, cogni...

In the first European conference on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) at Preschool (Brussels, 2002), it is concluded that new technologies, plays a fundamental role in the future of the Preschool system in Europe, which can encourage the development of children and increase the learning capacity in this period. ICTs are proved to be...

Resumen Uno de los objetivos de la elaboración de un plan docente para la materia de programación en un primer curso del título de grado en Ingeniería Informática adaptado al Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior es fijar, además de los contenidos propios que estas asignaturas deben contemplar, un conjunto de actividades que permitan al alumno empe...

Dynamic tessellation of (trimmed) NURBS surfaces is an important topic for interactive rendering of complex models. Independently of the decomposition method used to approximate surfaces by polygons, an evaluation of the surface at many parametric pairs is required to generate meshes vertices. In this paper we give an overview of the most important...

Cooperative three-dimensional visualization and modeling applications allow a distributed group of users to work together with a model they share. To implement this kind of applications the underlying communications system must provide reliable and ordered multicast of users interactions. Due to the high complexity that characterizes the models, ne...

The problem of visualizing graphical models described by NURBS surfaces at interactive frame rates is of great interest for the CAD/CAM industry, since many of their models are designed using this surface type. As current graphics hardware is optimised for rendering triangles, most efficient methods of rendering NURBS surfaces approximate them by p...

In this work we propose a predictive fixed-frame rate scheme that shows how to control the visualization frame rate using uniform dynamic tessellation. Similar to previous works5; 6, tessellation quality criteria is based on the triangle edge length

We describe a specific problem within the foundry production area and its need for a cooperative visualization and geometry verification tool. We discuss the opportunity of building a specific application and its features: communication architecture and user interface. The conclusion is that it is possible to develop very specific and powerful prod...

One of the conclusions drawn from the first European conference on using ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) in Preschool Education (Brussels 2002) was that technologies can encourage children's development and increase the learning capabilities at this age. In the light of the claims above, our research team is developing SHAIEx, a w...

Resumen El juego es la forma primaria de aprender durante los primeros ocho/diez años de vida. El éxito del juego depende de la relación óptima entre reto, fantasía, curiosidad y control. Esto también se aplica a los videojuegos. Si un videojuego tiene la capacidad de adaptar la presentación instruccional dinámicamente de acuerdo a las característi...

Laser scanning is beginning to be used as modelling technique in several areas of engineering, architecture or archaeology. With this technique, a high geometrically accurate model can be obtained in less time and work. In addition, the range data of the laser scanning can be completed with photorealistic textures to achieve a realistic both geomet...